20 years ago today...

It's hard for me to grasp the fact that I have officially known my husband for 20 years. Twenty years. How is it possible that all that time has gone by?

Matthew and I met when I was 14. We met at a church function...I was dragged by my best friend to participate in some movie night with the youth group that she was involved in. Matthew was there with another mutual friend of ours. I don't remember much about that night, but I do remember making popcorn in the kitchen with him and a popcorn fight soon began. I do remember thinking that he was kind of cute though!

Our mutual friend was in my english class the next day and she sat in front of me. She told me that she knew that someone liked me...as a freshman who wasn't very popular and felt I wasn't cute enough, I didn't believe her. I did ask her if it was him, but she wouldn't say anything more.

A little while passed before I encountered Matthew again. This time he was working in his mom's cinnamon roll shop in the mall. My mom and I were there picking up last minute items for a sudden trip to Arizona. We were flying out the next day to see my grandma who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was set to go into surgery to have it removed the next day and we wanted to be there. (grandma and I were very close) Mom and I stop off at the cinnamon roll shop and I realize that he worked there. I was trying to be coy and ordered a diet coke, which I hated at the time, just to impress him I guess. He, not knowing what was happening with my grandma, managed to make me smile. And he talked me into a cinnamon roll. So much for the diet coke...

A little while later, I discover that he's working in the taco place in the mall food court in addition to helping his mom out at the cinnamon roll shop. My best friend and I were in the mall one day and decided to approach him. What a big flirt...lol...after a few minutes, my best friend and I order our drinks and go and sit down. I took a big gulp of my Dr. Pepper...only to discover that my Dr. Pepper had been enhanced. There was taco sauce in it! So I went back up to the counter to get a new one, this time without my friend. Turns out that he had intentionally squirted taco sauce into my drink so that I would come back up to the counter without my friend! He said that he had to do something to get me by myself so that he could with me properly and ask for my phone number. Of course I gave it to him...duh...he was a hottie! ;)

So for the next week or so, we talked on the phone and eventually, he got around to asking me out, although to this day, he maintains that he never did and that he was blindsided with our date. I remember everything about that conversation. We were supposed to go out on a double date with my best friend and her boyfriend. Well she had gotten herself grounded for some reason and wasn't sure if she'd be able to go. I distinctly remember Matthew saying "well maybe we could still go without her." I freaked out because there was no way that my dad would let me go out on a date without anyone else. I was only 14!

Not sure what happened, but my friend managed to tal her parents into letting her go out on this double date. So i'm getting ready, with the assistance of my mom, for my very first date. He comes to the door, has the talk with my dad, and we leave. I can't really remember what we did...I know we went to a movie (Beetlejuice, I think) and then we drove around. We probably ended up at the blue lights (local make-out spot). He and I sat in the backseat while my friend and her boyfriend were making out...we weren't entirely sure what to do. Well, we knew what to do, but I wasn't at that point quite yet. I'm pretty sure he was...after all, he was a teenaged boy...

When my friends had had enough, it was time to go home. Since I was staying at my friend's house that night, we dropped Matthew off first. He pulled me out of the car and while i'm sure there was conversation, I don't remember it. But I do remember our first kiss. It was gentle and sweet. I still get butterflies when I think about that moment!

I know that we saw each other off and on again over the next few days...and I was shocked when I came home from school that following Friday to find a single long-stemmed red rose addressed to me. The card was signed "guess who" and that was it. I knew who it was immediately...

I called him and thanked him for my rose. I think that he had maybe wanted to go out that night or something, but I had an orchestra function to attend. It was state time...so I took a chance and invited him. I fell for him hard that night...he willingly attended a boring orchestra performance and hung out with my family that night.

Our first date was April 29th, 1988. We dated for about another year and a half before we broke up and went our separate ways. Although we were apart, I've always held April 29th close to my heart. We have obviously found our way back together and I couldn't be happier! We've been married now for 5 1/2 years!

So honey, thank you for e-mailing me...

And it was too a date... :)